Bubbleology

Broad Question

Can you make a stronger bubble substance to make a longer lasting bubble with something other the traditional soap?

Specific Question

Does the amount of glycerin affect bubble strength?

Hypothesis

By adding more glycerin to the bubble mixture it will increase the bubbles duration.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Glycerin added.

Dependent Variable:

Time it lasts

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Objects used in all experiments.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Glycerin: Syrupy alcohol obtained by fats and oils,
glycine is used in most household products.

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General Plan

In my experiment, I will use plastic cups to hold the same amount of dawn soap and water in all 10 cups (which means I have to find the ratio).
With that ratio I will record the time without using any glycine so I can get a base line on what the time is before I try increasing the value.
So I can look a my highest time when I add glycine and compare and see how much it really increased.
I will put a different amount of glycine in each cup all measured in tsp. I will place a tape box measuring
1 by 1 foot. the bubbles will have to land there so the distance of the bubble will not decrease or increase the time. Once the
glycerin is added I will use a bubble wand for each cup. After each cup I will wash the wand so I do not get any excess
glycine for each cup, that could mess up my experiment. I will measure the duration of each
bubble in seconds. I will have back up cups for each measurement in case a cup
spills or the wrong measurements are added.I will repeat the each cup 2 times.
After I get the data of all my times I will use a scatter plot graph to compare each measurement
and time I will average the to rounds out for each cup. Then the best amount with the longest
time will give me the amount of glycine I need to make with each substance. My goal is to find the correct and best ratio.
Then I can look at the overall data, and see if my theory was correct. I will take the time I recorded first without any
glycine and compare it to my highest or lowest temperature.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

Using certain chemicals, helpers and myself will need to be provided gloves and goggles.
So eyes and skin can be protected from allergic reactions and most importantly to avoid soap and
glycerin in eyes. However Glycerin the brand I am using does not effect skin, but gloves will be provided.
If a cup spills on the ground I will have to clean it immediately so my dog does not lick it.

Experimental Design

I wil tape the floor a 12-12 inch target and then I will stand 12 inches away so now I have to figure out how on average each bubble traveled. To figure that out, I will find the length it was from the bubble wand (my mouth) to the 12 inches away target. To do that I will measure the length from my mouth down to the ground (53 inches) and the distance from the target (12 inches). Since it made a triangle shape, I figured I could draw it out on paper and knew that if I added the distance to the target and the height that would be my average which was about 65 inches. However, that was the shortest value the bubble could travel because that was from me to the edge of my target. My longest distance could be from me to the other edge of the target (that adds another 12 inches) making my longest distance 77 inches, all I have to do now was find the median between 65 - 77 inches (71 inches) that was the average time my bubble traveled. Basically I will take ten cups, and find the ratio. To find the ratio I will use different values of water and Dawn liquid detergent together until I can blow a basic bubble. Then I blew the ratio and recorded that time so I could get a base line on what a bubble normally lasts. Once I took that time and recorded my data I could compare my highest time to the first time without glycine so I could see how much it increased. First I tried it with just glycerin and water to see if that would blow a bubble, it did not work, so I used my 1-4 ratio of Dawn and water (water 4 dawn 1) after filling the cup with that ratio I begin to add the glycerin, I used different amounts in each cups I increments of 1/4 teaspoons of glycerin. after blowing each cup with a stop watch I did it for another round, afterward when over my data I averaged it out. The best ratio was 1-4 water and 1.25 teaspoons of glycerin.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Where I got this	Cost
Poster Bored	Staples	$5.00
Glycerin	CVS (two glycine)	$6.00 each
Plastic Cups	CVS	$5.00
Bubble Mixture	CVS	$2.00

Data Table

Time Line

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Background Research

Water molecule
A molecule is a group of at least two atoms held together with a electrically neutral molecular bond. An example of a molecule is water - H2O.
A bubble is a thin film of soapy water. Most of the bubbles that you see are filled with air, but you can make a bubble using other gases, such as carbon dioxide. The film that makes the bubble has three layers. A thin layer of water is sandwiched between two layers of soap molecules.
What Happens When Bubbles Meet?
when two bubbles meet, they will merge walls to minimize their surface area. If bubbles that are the same size meet, then the wall that separates them will be flat. If bubbles that are different sizes meet, then the smaller bubble will bulge into the large bubble. Bubbles meet to form walls at an angle of 120°.
Bubble Solutions
Though soap bubbles are traditionally made from (you guessed it) soap, most bubble solutions consist of detergent in water. Glycerin often is added as an ingredient. Detergents form bubbles in much the same way as soap, but detergents will form bubbles even in tap water, which contains ions that could prevent the soap to form.
Polar molecule
A polar molecule is a bit like a magnet: the two ends of magnet are different, and if you poke a magnet with a second magnet, one end is attracted while the other end is repelled. In molecules it isn't magnetism but electric fields, but it has the same effect.
Surface tension
A property of liquids arising from unbalanced molecular.
Soap bubbles usually last for only a few moments and then burst either on their own or on contact with another object.
They are often used as a children's play, but their usage in artistic performances shows that they can be fascinating for adults too.
Soap bubbles can help to solve complex mathematical problems of space, as they will always find the smallest surface area between points or edges. A bubble can exist because the surface layer of a liquid (usually water) has a certain surface tension, which causes the layer to behave somewhat like an elastic sheet.

References
Hernandez, Karina. "How to Add Glycerin to Water." EHow. Demand Media, 04 Jan. 2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ehow.com/how_5833659_add-glycerin-water.html>.

"Bubble-ology." Science Fair Project Ideas, Answers, & Tools. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. <http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p025.shtml>.

Detailed Procedure

Here are my step by step instructions.
What you will need:

1. 10 plastic cups
2. A Sharpie
3. 1 bubble wand
4. Dawn Soap
5. A watch with a timer or a stopwatch
6. Glycerin
7. Gloves if needed
8. Paper Towels
9. Duct tape

What you will need to do:
Step 1: Setting up your experiment; first you place all ten cups out and number them 1 - 10 so you know which is which, after placing your cups in order take your painters tape or duct tape and tape a 1 foot by 1 foot square on the ground. (don't do this on carpet wooden floor) this is where your bubble needs to land, I do this because I don't want every bubble traveling at a different difference that could decrease or increase the times. After that make sure your measurement objects and the materials are ready.
Step 2: First what you have to do is find the ratio, take the dawn and the water mix then try different measurements, until just with water and dawn you can blow your basic bubble. In my experiment the ratio was 1-4 water (water 4 teaspoons, Dawn 1 teaspoons) Fill all ten cups with that ratio, make sure you have back up cups and extra materials in case something spills.
Step 3: You need to take a time without any glycine with your 1-4 ratio, time it with a stop watch, when it pops stop the timer or watch. Record the time, why? Because then you can see how much time the Glycine might increase the duration of the bubble.
Step 4: Now you will add glycerin to all ten cups in increments of 1/4 teaspoons. Ex Cup 1= .25 teaspoons Cup 2 = .50 teaspoons ect.
Step 5: Now that you have all everything you need in the cups its time to test it. Make sure everything is mixed don't mix it to much or you will start to get bubbles and foam, you want to keep it easy to record your data. Take a bubble wand and try to blow all the bubbles the same size. Make sure you or another assistant has a stopwatch ready, the second the bubble leaves the wand begin the time and when it pops stop it. Even if it pops in mid air you have to stop the watch. Make sure the bubble lands on the marked spot if it does not don't record it, stand a foot away from the marker.
Step 6: After you record all your data and did each cup twice take both of the times for each cup and average them out. Use a scatter plot graph to look over your data. Also take you first recording with out the glycine, and compare it to your highest temperature to see how high it increased or decreased.

Photo List

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Results

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

Conclusion

Glycerin does effect bubble strength, the more you add the stronger the bubble is. However, once you outdo the ratio the strength decreases. The best amount of glycine with the 1-4 ratio was 1.25 teaspoons lasting at 8.81 seconds. It increased the value by seconds After that the duration decreases.

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Discussion

What patterns or trends did the data show? My time for bubble duration increased the more Glycerin I added,
however once I hit the 1 1/2 teaspoons it started to decrease. Meaning the Glycerin was overcoming the dawn and water ratio.
How strong is the relationship between the independent and dependent variable? Were you able to answer the experiment question?
Yes, Glycerin does effect bubble strength. However it does not increase the strength after it overcomes the ratio which I have learned and know understand.
Did your experiment have any problems or did the data contain any errors? I was worried about all the factors that could effect my data, including the height I am blowing the bubble, the size, and the amount of air I blew in the bubble. Then I realized this distance the bubble travled could be an effect, therefore I placed tape on the ground, that was an area which the bubble had to land, if it did not the time would not be recorded and I would do it again. I stood 1 foot away so overall the bubble had to travel a 1 foot distance and float down from where my mouth is, after measuring that the bubble had to travel exactly 4 foot 3 inches.
Overall my hypothesis was half right, but in science when you get something wrong, you learn something new.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

Glycerin is in many products, soaps, detergents all our household products. So maybe if they increase the values of glycerin in these products it can help in our everyday lives, making soaps stronger to fight germs and bacteria, and detergents to better fight stains with out having to add more products to your load saving you money. Scientist might be able to use Glycerin to take away problems in certain experiments.

Abstract

Does the amount of glycerin affect bubble strength? I knew glycerin was an enhancer so I figured that it would increase the value of whatever ratio I used, that was my hypothesis. As I was doing the science project I realized more and more variables were being added, more things that could effect my out coming result. The height, the size of the bubble and so on. I had to sit down and eliminate all these questions. When I had to blow the bubble I counted in my head 5 seconds so all the bubbles were close to the same size. I was at the same height the entire time so that eliminated that factor. One of the bigger things was the distance that the bubble traveled, so I made a decision that I wanted all the bubbles to travel down to a 12-12 inch target. So I taped the floor a 12-12 inch target and then I stood 12 inches away so now I have to figure out how on average each bubble traveled. To figure that out, I had to find the length it was from the bubble wand (my mouth) to the 12 inches away target. To do that I measured the length from my mouth down to the ground (53 inches) and the distance from the target (12 inches). Since it made a triangle shape, I drew it out on paper and knew that if I added the distance to the target and the height that would be my average which was about 65 inches. However, that was the shortest value the bubble could travel because that was from me to the edge of my target. My longest distance was from me to the other edge of the target (that adds another 12 inches) making my longest distance 77 inches, all I had to do now was find the median between 65 - 77 inches (71 inches) that was the average time my bubble traveled. Now that I had all this eliminated I could now start. Basically I took ten cups, and found the ratio. To find the ratio I used different values of water and Dawn liquid detergent together until I could blow a basic bubble. Then I blew the ratio and recorded that time so I could get a base line on what a bubble normally lasts. Once I took that time and recorded my data I could compare my highest time to the first time without glycine so I could see how much it increased. First I tried it with just glycerin and water to see if that would blow a bubble, it did not work, so I used my 1-4 ratio of Dawn and water (water 4 dawn 1) after filling the cup with that ratio I begin to add the glycerin, I used different amounts in each cups I increments of 1/4 teaspoons of glycerin. after blowing each cup with a stop watch I did it for another round, afterward when over my data I averaged it out. The best ratio was 1-4 water and 1.25 teaspoons of glycerin. After looking at my results I realized that from the highest point (2.56) and the time without glycerin (9.03) the glycerin increased it by 6.47 seconds. Overall my hypothesis is correct but after overdoing the ratio it starts to decrease.